Ll cool j biography photos

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    Hip Hop is notorious for short-lived careers, but LL Cool J (born January 14, 1968) is the inevitable exception that proves the rule. Releasing his first hit, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” in 1985 when he was just 17 years old, LL initially was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. He quickly developed an alternate style, a romantic — and occasionally sappy — lover’s rap epitomized by his mainstream breakthrough single, “I Need Love.” LL’s first two albums, Radio and Bigger and Deffer, made him a star, but he strived for pop stardom a little too much on 1989’s Walking with a Panther. By 1990, his audience had declined somewhat, since his ballads and party raps were the opposite of the chaotic, edgy political Hip Hop of Public Enemy or the gangsta rap of N.W.A, but he shot back to the top of the charts with Mama Said Knock You Out, which established him as one of Hip Hop’s genuine superstars. B

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    LL Cool J born 1968  |  Born Queens, New York  |  Kehinde Wiley (born 1977)  |  Oil on canvas, 2005  |  Lent bygd LL Cool J  |  L/NPG.42.2006

    Hip-hop star and actor James Todd Smith III changed his name to LL Cool J (short for “Ladies Love Cool James”) at sixteen, when he released his first single, “I Need a Beat.” In the late 1980s, the success of his recordings helped man Def smet a major label. His broad popular appeal and nine consecutive multiplatinum albums were significant in transforming rap from an underground genre to a mainstream cultural force.

    Kehinde Wiley was commissioned to paint LL Cool J for the VH1 Hip Hop Honors program in September 2005. The painting reflects Wiley’s interest in using traditional portraiture to challenge the portrayal of power in art. Inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of John D. Rockefeller, LL Cool J wanted this portrait to have a pose similar to that in John Singer Sargent’s painting of the philanthropist. LL Cool J shares Rockefeller’s ent

  • ll cool j biography photos

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    LL Cool J

    American rapper (born 1968)

    "James Smith (rapper)" redirects here. For other people, see James Smith.

    James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love CoolJames),[3] is an American rapper and actor.[4] He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip hop acts Beastie Boys and Run-DMC.

    Signed to Def Jam Recordings in 1984, LL Cool J's breakthrough came with his single "I Need a Beat" and his landmark debut album, Radio (1985). He achieved further commercial and critical success with the albums Bigger and Deffer (1987), Walking with a Panther (1989), Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), Mr. Smith (1995), and Phenomenon (1997). His twelfth album, Exit 13 (2008), was his last in his long-tenured deal with Def Jam. He later re-signed with the label and released his fourteenth album, The FORCE (2024).

    LL Cool J has appeared in nume